The Daily Mail published one of those “women can’t win for trying” articles on the Duchess of Cambridge. Either the DM is lavishing praise on Kate or they’re publicly negging her, nothing in between. This week’s neg is “Why does Kate dress like a woman TWICE her age? How the Duchess steals styles from 60-somethings Princess Anne and Camilla (and why she should be copying Olivia Palermo).” To be completely fair, I sort of loathe Kate’s style too, but my argument is more nuanced: I think that with her title and marriage, she has to look more conservative in general, but in six years of marriage, she rarely finds a happy medium between “twee college girl” and “matronly doily.” So the TL; DR version of this is basically: try again, Kate.
She never looks anything less than perfect in her slim fitting gowns and tailored coat dresses teamed with sensible court shoes. However, while she may always look impeccably polished, the Duchess of Cambridge, 35, does tend to dress a lot older than her years, choosing outfits similar to Princess Anne, 66, the Duchess of Cornwall, 69, and even the Queen, 90. Now stylists say that it may be Kate’s lack of confidence with fashion that has influenced her to copy the styles of her more senior family members.
Celebrity stylist and fashion presenter Naomi Isted told Femail: ‘She has to opt for classic and traditional styles. However, as it can be very formal this can at times age her unnecessarily. At times where she’s lacking in confidence she might opt for overly formal options.’
‘The Duchess consistently dresses in an appropriate manner, which sometimes replicates an older style, to remain in keeping with her royal duties,’ A-list stylist Natalie Robinson told Femail. ‘But she could incorporate stand-out accessories into her outfit to look more youthful but still suitable in public. Perhaps she could add a subtle pop of colour in the form of stunning jewels or by wearing a dress with a shorter hem which she sometimes does. Such women like Olivia Palermo or Helen Mirren could potentially inspire the Duchess in the style stakes. Despite the difference in their age, both Olivia and Helen always look modern in their own unique way without showing too much flesh.’
Naomi suggested that Kate could also emulate her royal counterpart in Monaco, Charlotte Casiraghi, 30.
‘Tailoring is key to dressing the part of a royal, but she could be more playful with fabrics, colours and cuts,’ she explained. ‘I think Charlotte Casiraghi is a perfect example of how to look chic but youthful at all times – not surprising as she’s the muse of Karl Lagerfeld. She likes experimenting with bold colours, tweeds and unusual fabrics.’
Some of this is good advice and what I always wonder is… how is it this difficult for Kate? There are other royal women in the world who manage to look conservative and yet age-appropriate. There are literally millions of 30-something women who manage to dress their age beautifully, fashionably and occasion-appropriately and those women don’t have Kate’s money or access. I always think that the root of the problem for Kate is that she never worked, you know? She never had a real job, she never learned how to dress like a professional young woman and dress for the occasion. Which is why we get twee cocktail dresses when a suit was needed. Which is why we get coatdresses instead of professional-looking separates. Which is why we get biscuit-flashing miniskirts and jeggings when a nice pair of trousers were needed.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
The third pic says everything. She’s such a flasher.
Haha, I love it when the dm bucks its conservative trend and goes in on Waity.
The problem is not really the clothes. There are women who could buy an old sweatshirt from a Thrift shop and make it look chic, I’ve seen it happen in NYC. Plenty of women with (High rents) and very little money to spend on clothes, making a simple blouse and skirt or a sweatshirt look absolutely wonderful. The problem is Kate lacks style. She has never had style. Even her wedding dress ,the press raves about, fell flat for me when she wore it.
I just think Kate lacks style. Almost everything looks dull on her and somehow she still manages to make expensive clothes look like they just fell off a sales rack. Sometimes I don’t understand how she manages it, all I can put it down to is, she lacks style.
For all the money she spends on clothes, why not invest in a professional stylist and a skilled tailor so they actually look good? I just don’t get it.
Yes Mika, I think she lacks style too, which is confounding since she was a jewelry buyer (I know it was ‘part-time’ wink wink) but seriously, she had to sit in on some meetings or presentations, right? The terrible jewelry to Paris, those circular pearls with the sharp black dress. Her choice in shoes is so blah and basic. Pumps to her sister’s dinner party, the same shoe style she wears on royal duty?? She could easily look to Mary of Denmark for some ideas.
@SharonLea “jewelry buyer” doesn’t mean anything. The jewelry she wore pre-wedding were always cheap and girly looking stuff most of us left at our parents home when we left for college.
I agree with @Mika – Kate just doesn’t have style and that should not be a problem, considering she can hire a stylist or two and really step it up.
However, I don’t think she cares. She is not a girly girl or rather she is very middle class in that she wears everything as if she got it at TJMaxx. Again, not a bad thing, just clashes with her current position. And as someone noted above, she has to adhere to the old-school conservative standards of the royal family.
Why do people think that ‘conservative style’ means frumpy, boring, unimaginative amish wear (apologies to Amish).
I mean compare Kate in a long white dress vs CBK in a similar long white dress:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/08566e49c2166dfe8ab482de7ac37b5e/tumblr_mxewof7FBD1reqsvvo1_500.jpg
Sheikha Mozah who represents extremely conservative constituents AND is covered from head to toe.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/51/7b/a0/517ba02e3669b7851de0880a1ef7bfab.jpg
FGS, Philip, who loves a pretty woman, can’t stop staring at Sheikha Mozah even though she’s covered from head to toe:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1324093/Philip-turns-Prince-Charming-meets-Emir-Qatars-wife-Sheika.html
There are many, MANY conservatively dressed women in public facing positions, and royal houses, across the globe who are not frumpy.
Just Kate.
Great examples LAK. CBK was younger than KM in that picture, but worlds apart in self-confidence and presentation.
Two other examples of royals are Rania of Jordan and Lalla Salma of Morocco. They both dress conservatively when they’re in Western clothing, but still manage to be stylish. Sometimes Rania gets it really wrong, but she’s dressing a similar long-torso, short legs frame so KM could look to her for inspiration.
She lacks style because she isn’t confident in herself or her taste – and more to the point, it’s next to impossible to have style when you have no personality or interests outside of your appearance.
Unlike most people, I don’t have an issue with her clothes, only with her complete dullness and uselessness. It’s a bit silly when we rip her up for wearing full-skirted dresses and short ones, then also rip her up for wearing ‘frumpy’ pencil skirts or ones that hit BTK, or her fake hair or whatever. But then I get being irritated at the idea of her clothing when the press is shoving her down people’s throats as a ‘style icon’ despite her style being so basic.
@Apples what is wrong with TJMaxx? I buy most of my clothes from TKMaxx, and i get fabulous bargains, most of them well known quality brands.
Charlotte Casiraghi is neither royal nor her counterpart.
Kate has no sense of style, but as long as she’s not flashing her biscuit (work on THAT, please!), who cares? Her purpose in life is not to be the perfect decorative object. It’s to WORK on behalf of the British crown, something she steadfastly refuses to do on a regular basis.
Then she should look to Princess Charlene for inspiration. Same ages / rank / body shape / clothing budgets (ok I’m being sarcastic here) but Charlene looks impeccable, 100% Royal, dare I say awesome AND rocks a short haircut.
Ok, I’m a Charlene sugar but could these two women, representatives of wealthy, globally recognised Royal families be any further apart? Just Google her Kate, learn something.
ABC – Charlene is a great example. She has worn some amazing suits and dresses. And nothing showy or revealing. Her red lipstick rocks.
Strangely, I feel like part of Charlene’s role is to be glamorous. That was part of Princess Grace’s role too. She’s there to project that image for-and-of Monaco.
Yes, she is supposed to be doing charity work too, but the glamour is part of the job description. Her husband actually runs the country, is personally a billionaire, and they’re surrounded by the uber wealthy and privacy obsessed.
Her photo shoots, their photo shoots, the magazine interviews? It is like part of her job is to be glamorous, which isn’t supposed to be part of the job for other European royals.
Charlene rocks in style. My guess is that she is both talented/interested and has good advisors / stylists. She seemed to wear a lot of Armani priveè. Very expensive but VERY stylish.
Kate neither rocks nor in style.
Agree! If she has to emulate someone, it should be Leti or Madeline! They dress appropriately without looking old. Kate has the most boring style amongst all the young European royals.
Agreed – it’s her job to promote charities/causes and represent the country, not just to look pretty.
That green head-to-toe lace dress is just too much.
It’s a mix of a lack of natural style and bad advice from an amateur wannabe stylist in Archer.
I don’t like her fashion sense much, but I don’t think she really looks inappropriate.
She has a really slight figure because of all the dieting so maybe that affects how her clothes drape on her.
Most people dress badly nowadays (leggings as professional pants? I don’t get it) so I’m not even sure if her going to work would have helped her out much.
One of my coworkers in a very, VERY professional environment had to be pulled aside recently and told that leggings and a shirt decorated with flamingos is inappropriate for our job. It’s like people these days don’t know how to self-regulate when it comes to clothing. You save the silly shirts for the weekends and show up to the office in the suit and good grooming. Not that complicated really.
As to Kate…she has looked very inappropriate on many an occasion. I could probably list a dozen off the top of my head. The green lace dress was okay–no flashing, no having to hold her dress down when the wind got up–but it just looks so dull on her.
I’m trying to picture the context required to wear leggings at work. And I worked in the music industry…
She should probably put weights in her hems. Things get inappropriate when her clothes fly up.
But I don’t find the clothes themselves inappropriate. The main problem is that I don’t think Kate has much presence. Whatever she wears is probably not going to look great. Even when she wears a tiara she looks kind of dull.
That’s funny because at my workplace they give you looks if you look too elegant. They make a very big point to be and dress super casually. I was shocked when during the recruitment process I was told twice not to wear a suit or anything formal – they literally told me ‘jeans and a t-shirt would be best’.
If you work in banking or on Wall St in NYC and don’t show up dressed professionally (like wearing a cocktail dress instead of a suit or timeless classic pieces) you will either be spoken to or watch as all of those who know how to act and dress professionally are promoted around you. You dont even dress for your office mates – you do it to show your clients you are someone serious, sober, respectful and to be respected. When you flash your privates at a memorial in India, that shows none of those things.
So I do think the lack of career hurts her judgement when it comes to her clothes. She is too flouncy, too flashy, too ruffly, way too girlish in most of her clothes. I dont mind the coat dresses, as she is at least not flashing in them and they look polished. The dark blue Chanel in Paris was interesting, i really liked it on her, but then she put that belt on it with a teeny stupid little bow. She tweened it right up.
So much potential, such absurd results. I will be interested to see how Pippa steps up her wardrobe once she gets real money, not Kates freebie hand me downs. And if Meghan does marry into the family, she will have to tone it down, lower her hems, button her shirts up more. If that garish, flouncy, floral gown she wore to that wedding is any indication of what she thinks is appropriate clothing, I dont have much hope for her, either.
BTW, if I had access to designers like Kate does, i would wear Elie Saab, Naeem Khan and Carolina Herrera all of the time!
Even if she had worked, I don’t think she would have wound up in banking or London’s equivalent of Wall Street though.
There are some careers where people do dress badly, and that’s where I think her not having had a career still doesn’t makes much difference fashion-wise. The gossip columnists critiquing her have careers but they don’t exactly dress well either. Amal Clooney is a human rights lawyer, and when she showed up at Cannes she nearly flashed the media too. That’s not a defence for Kate — I just think a lot of people even in high-powered jobs dress stupidly.
I think Kate just doesn’t have that necessary “it” factor to carry clothes off well. Mind you, I had no idea about the flashing in India, however. I just mean the clothes themselves look fine to me — she herself is simply kind of dull looking, and the clothes kind of end up looking dull.
Perplexed: Amal in Cannes was on her own time. She tends to extreme flamboyance in her own time with clothing that shows off her body parts.
If you look at her work appearances /pap strolls, even where she is in bright colours, the cut, style and presentation is conservative. It’s tailored business suits (trousers of skirts) or dresses. Skirts and dresses are knee length in a pencil style, briefcase. Body parts covered.
I’ll never be a royal but it seems to me that it really doesn’t need to be this hard:
1. try to work as much as possible with brands designed and made in your own country
2. mix high and low end (Michelle was a star at doing this)
3. have a professional seamstress on call so that all your outfits are tailored perfectly
4. use weights in the hems of anything light, floaty, short
5. take lessons in deportment and public speaking and see a doctor to deal with posture issues
6. have a few hairstyles that are tried and true for each type of engagement: day, cocktail, gala, meetings that involve children and getting low, etc.
7. have a pro makeup artist work with you to develop a few looks, just like the hair thing, so no matter who does your makeup, yourself included, you look polished.
8. accessory overhaul: weed the shoes and have a low / high heel in all basic colours. Include a few sporty styles for polo/running in the grass/ winery tours rater than teetering on stilettos like a fool when it’s not necessary
9. stop buying the same stupid tiny purse over and over. There are lots of gorgeous bags out there so get a few beautiful shoulder bags. Not everything needs to be a clutch.
10. actually go out and do the bloody work. People will ignore that you look like a lace doily in grandma’s house if you are honest, engaged, knowledgeable and passionate about what you do.
Agree with all of this. And especially number 10.
Excellent list Vauvert – you covered everything.
#11-hire vauvert to implement items #1-10.
This list is perfect. It’s a snapshot of what a good etiquette book/ training covers and what should have been a basic foundation of her so called princess lessons.
She also seems to think this role is about her and what she wants and how she feels and it’s not. She needs to create a Duchess version of Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce- a role that she steps into that is beautifully styled and dressed (by someone else, since she can’t seem to do it). The clothes are her costumes and her speeches are her lines. Do the job, play the role- then go home and do what you want to do- the way most adults have to do.
Kate should hire you, Vauvert
Vauvert should replace Kate. She’s got it nailed.
Damn fine list, I must say.
The problem is when it comes to Kate you can only talk about the clothes she wears. There’s nothing else to talk about.
Exactly! There’s no substance or effort with her. If you don’t talk about the makeup, the clothes, the wiglets, what do you talk about?
Well said. If she was a work horse I would be banging my pots in front of the Daily Mail offices to leave Kate alone. As it is, we don’t have much to discuss.
See this is why I’m not in fashion: I like that dress. I don’t think that clothes have “ages” that way. Either that, or I’m just an old soul and always have been.
There are ways she could dress younger than this and still be appropriate. She’s never been stylish. It’s not like she’s broke and can’t buy better clothes
I think #10 here is really key. It’s not entirely fair to compare her to Camilla, since there is such a difference in ages, but notice the difference between comments here and on other gossip sites about Camilla vs. Kate. Like when Camilla wore that total doily dress in December (the red one), most people said “it’s a doily, but she looks happy and like she is enjoying herself” or something along those lines. So even when people don’t love her outfits (and of course what is appropriate for Camilla is not going to be appropriate for Kate necessarily), the fact that she is out there working and going to events and appears to enjoy herself really soothes over any criticism about her clothes.
Camellia, for all her flaws has style while some of her appearances look over the top, because she seems to know how to enjoy life. This translate into style. Kate on the other hand appears a bit dull. What you see is what you get. She should hire a great stylist why not?
Camilla also has the advantage of being able to ‘carry’ the really big bling, something that Kate – no matter what she wears – will ever manage. It’s something to do with presence, deportment, attitude, Camilla has ‘it’ and Kate doesn’t. If anyone can make a tiara and big jewels boring it’s our Waity! Sadly we will probably see this all too often in future. *sigh
Agreed Becks. It’s okay if Kate (and William) are not style icons and they don’t bring on the glam. Charles and Camilla are not glamorous but they always seem to appear engaged and approachable during their engagements instead of grinning through them. The public pays little attention to Sophie and Anne, compared to Kate, but they still get up and work.
Maybe she just has bad taste and that’s okay. It really is.
I raise an eyebrow when she plays sports in wedges or wears yet another full skirt dress that blows up in the wind but in terms of just taste, we all have our own opinions and if Kate likes that green dress then that’s okay. She get to have her own taste in clothes without being treated as if it’s something she needs to improve or an indication of being flawed.
You have a point. And the Daily Mail is full of sh*t as usual, their double standards and rampant sexism invalidates any point they might make.
The problem with Kate though, she puts so much money and effort into her styling, the result of which is almost always disappointing or flat out inappropriate for the event, while she fails to give even a fraction of the same consideration to the substance of what she’s representing when she’s out and about. She is elusive, hates being relied upon by her charities, arrives to events unprepared, fails to meaningfully engage with people, can’t make a half-decent speech on a topic she’s supposedly very keen about, after years of being ‘on the job’. She reduces herself to comments on her ugly dresses and hair extensions, because apparently her appearance is all that matters to her in her public role.
I disagree. I’ve insulted all of the RF at some point or another on these threads and taken a lot of shots at Kate including some about her clothes because I’m being petty and gossipy and it’s fun. I’ve never felt like my hands are tied to only be able to insult Kate’s clothing choices. We’re not pushed into scrutinizing her clothes because of her work choices.
If I choose to show people only my hands and hide the rest of me under fabric, my hands are not suddenly more meaningful. I’m not saying anything meaningful by choosing to wear green nailpolish rather than blue nailpolish. It’s still just personal minutiae.
Actually, knowing that she cares about her appearance (on her terms, which is the right way to go about it) and therefore using that for impact in criticizing her and rationalizing it away as a special exception is mean-spirited.
Natalie, you are right, Kate’s wedges have no special meaning per se, they’re a just part of her bad taste which she’s certainly entitled to. However, wearing wedges to an event where she knows she’s expected to play sports with children does speak volumes about her approach to work. It says, “I don’t care about projecting an image of being engaged, relatable and there to play with the kids. What these kids expect of me is none of my concern. These wedges make me look good and they go with this outfit”. *She* prioritizes her wedges, and really whatever she thinks she looks good in, over the purpose of her visit and sends a message with it, I’m just throwing it back at her. That message would be the same if she wore gorgeous heels instead to play volleyball with the kids. Except it’s way funnier when it’s wedges, because they’re also hideous.
Mean-spirited would be mocking her for her bad taste if she tried to bring something of substance to the table, some sort of work ethic. All she offers to the public is vanity, and I don’t feel guilty about laughing about that.
I think that Diana might have worn high heels too, and then she would have gotten out of her shoes to play with the children.
Diana always seemed to be ready to cast aside any royal pretensions if doing so did good.
Diana wore 1 inch heels or kitten heels for years, because in heels she was taller than Charles. One or both of them didn’t like that.
Whatever her personal taste is in clothes, she needs to be building a functional, professional, working wardrobe. She can save the floaty dresses, jeggings, and wedges for personal time. When she spends 200,000 a year on new clothes, still looks unprofessional, and fails to dress properly for the day’s events? Valid to bring out the critiques.
It is not just bad dressing. It seems to be an indicator of immaturity and therefore and indicator of lack of performance. As the taxpayer is paying for her upkeep (via Prince Charles) the very same taxpayer is allowed to criticise her lack of performance.
She needs to look at Letizia. Professional but with style and an edge.
Totally
And Letizia’s posture is perfect!! Kate definitely needs to work on hers.
and Letizia even came from a non-royal/non-aristo background, too.
Though unlike Kate, she had an actual job and learned how to dress appropriately/professionally.
Both Letizia and Maxima come from a professional background.
And I’m willing to bet Letizia had/has female friends her own age that helped each other out with fashion tips – which Kate, who seems to have zero friends (by her own design), lacks.
I didn’t have the fashion sense the gods gave an angora goat when I was in my 20s. My family wasn’t much help there either. I learned from my peers how to dress professionally, etc. with some semblance of contemporary elegance.
It’s hard for Kate to dress her age – the only women she’ll listen to for fashion advice are older than her (unless Pippa – but I don’t see that Pippa has really great style either). The last time Kate had anything like a group of girlfriends to learn fashion tips from, was in her pre-Prince chasing, early chronic-flashing days. The ‘salad days’ of wedges and skinny suede boots, microskirts and jeggings.
Her fashion development is as arrested as her emotional development, it would appear… and not at all improved by her completely enmeshed relationship with her stage-managing mother. “Learned helplessness” is a phrase that springs to mind whenever I see articles about Kate, whether they be about her challenges coping with fashion, or her role in the monarchy.
Also? Pet peeve of mine for a while now – she needs to learn to be comfortable with her body type. She has a long torso. Just embrace it. Stop having the seamstress tailor garments to give Kate an artificially higher waist than she has. Her hips are still in the same place and it looks ludicrous – particularly when the short skirts are also deployed in the same outfit.
IMO part of her problem is that too-long girlish hair. It just makes everything she wears look frumpy or schoolgirl.
Yep, she needs a new haircut.
I’ve read that supposedly William likes long hair…well, let him grow it (har!)
I read the same, he likes long hair and that’s why she doesn’t cut it.
Well I have read that he moans about Kate’s hair and how it always causes a lot of fuss and anxiety when they are getting ready to go out to functions.
If she wants her hair long, keep it long BUT wear it up in a neat ponytail or chignon when she is at work. Not these silly teenage girl hairdos, toddler hair clips, and goofy oversize buns with all the extensions still in.
sarri, but if your husband no longer comes home to see you and when he does come home it’s to see the kids, why the heck does she care anymore about what he likes or doesn’t like, hair or anything else. Good heavens, he’s been seeing someone else since what. 2014? So why even bother seeking his approval,she should do her own thing. I remember back in the 80’s Fergie cut her hair and she said Andrew didn’t even notice, he was obviously doing his own thing, he didn’t give a toss!!!!
Yes, I could see he with about 6 inches cut off..still long enough to wear it in a chignon, but so much more stylish.
the daily fail has no right to tell Duchess Kate how to dress when they salivate over reality stars in skin tight dresses a few sizes too small or ill fitting bathing suits particularly when they clearly have breast implants that are too big for their stature like Kim Kardashian who is a DD at 5 ft 2 in though it’s different when you have naturally large breasts with a small stature like Jessica Simpson or Amanda Seyfried who are both naturally between a full C cup and a D cup though Seyfried’s are bigger at the moment because she just gave birth to her first child a girl on March 24th and is likely breastfeeding
I think you really nailed it: she never worked, and the workplace is the great educator for dressing age appropriately and professionally.
Yes, I agree, Lainey’s point that she has never worked in a work place to learn how to dress is probably the true reason.
Kate doesn’t have natural elegance. Princess Mary on the other hand has a flair and knows how to dress appropriately and elegantly. She should try to emulate her. She probably works harder too which isn’t saying much.
Since Kate and Mary are best of friends (according to DM). Kate could get the address of Starmakers from Mary. It certainly helped Mary. http://aboganindenmark.blogspot.de/2007/10/starrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmakers.html.
Love her. Always did. She’s gorgeous. Class act all the way. Her body and hair are to die for. Loved her wedding dress, on her. The Daily Mail needs to zip it. Lol! Team Kate!!
Hi Carole…Taking a break from Pippa’s wedding prep, are we?
Thank you for making me choke on my glass of wine… I owe you. XD
Why this is a problem:
1. All there is to her is fashion because she does so little in order to shift conversation to her charity and social work.
2. She spent 10+ years doing NOTHING so she never worked and learned how to dress like a professional, put together young woman (unlike the rest of the ladies in the BRF and other RFs) and has no idea how to dress for any given ocassion (unless it involves a tiara)
3. She has bad taste, which is completely subjective. But her clothes are a bad fit, always. Instead of blowing money on bespoke, blow it on a good seamstress to design and tailor your designer clothes.
4. Her hair is the biggest issue. It ages her and makes her look like a little girl, creating a serious contrast with her “old woman” clothes. Get a trim, Kate, you have a beautiful face.
5. No trousers, EVER. She would look very professional in tailored trousers.
TBH, I don’t have a problem with Kate’s clothes as long as she’s not flashing anyone or dressing super inappropriate (like wearing jeggings to engagements. Seriously. That’s your JOB, Woman!) I’d prefer to see more stuff on how she behaves herself at these functions, or about her work ethic.
So would I.
Everything she’s ever worn would look better if she improved her posture.
The CB article is spot-on. Kate has to dress conservatively but compared to other women in similar positions she always appears frumpy. The European Royal ladies may not dress to everyone’s taste but they usually look stylish and appropriate.
Maybe she just doesn’t care about fashion as Diana did.
She does not care about fashion but that does not stop her from spending a fortune on fashion.
If you look at Diana in the early days there were many fashion miss-steps. I do believe she got styling help from British Vogue which helped her tremendously. That being said, I think Diana was just innately more stylish. (she wore a necklace as a headband and rocked it.)
In Kate’s early days, the clothes she wore looked great on her. However, I think she lacks confidence in adapting those looks she used to love without it coming off as girlish. The high waistlines, the full skirts that are an inch & a half too high, the suede boots that look worn(leather would look better) combined with bad posture and strangling her clutch come off as girlish and boring.
I think she feels comfortable in her choices she doesn’t want to get it wrong. I think her fashion reflects her personality : boring, dependable, perfectionist. I know sixty year olds who dress like 30 year olds sophisticated thirty somethings. Kate seems to like clothes that look very 1940 which makes me think she reflects her shape her figure which is similar to Mrs Simpson of Edward suit her. The frilled lacy dresses patterned dresses with the high heels are sort of 1940/50 So I don’t think she means to dress old she just chooses clothes that suit her flat chest no hips type figure. She also seems wedded to high heels either she wants to look very tall or flats don’t suit her ankle shape.
And pics on DM of her in a red Marchesa frilly, pouffy dress with hideous earrings and red suede pumps and bag. Sigh. She really needs a stylist.
Someone commented on the DM page – red shoes red dress on a red carpet
OMG!!! I just saw the pics….LOL I cannot wait for tomorrow’s post and comments
gaaaaaaaa……sheer red panels, floral netting, matchy-matchy accessories including a weird jeweled belt and don’t get me started on the earrings….
Oh and people on GoFugYourself are in love with this whole outfit. What the what?
I think the biggest problem she has is that she completely and utterly lacks personality. She’s like a Stepford wife. There’s really nothing going on behind her smile or behind any gesture or appearance she makes. She’s absolutely hollow and it’s revealed so poignantly in the comparisons made earlier on this thread by LAK. There’s an old saying, “if you don’t wear the clothes, the clothes wear you.” To me that’s almost 100 percent the problem. You don’t see her personality behind the clothes or in her presentation.
I thought hair and makeup were excellent in green dress shot — and the dress would have been better with a satin skirt – but keep the lace on top. I think she is trying to dress like the queen, and it’s TOO EARLY for that move. She would do great embracing some more youthful, yet stylish, looks. I’ve seen her do some, but mostly her outfits could be so much better. I REALLY wish she would change up her shoe game. It’s a snore.
Olivia Palermo????
I think that Kate tries to hard to please the public, trying to look like a demure, sensible, perfect princess, she is afraid to look sexy. I don’t think she has been allowed to find her own style, she just dresses to please and what she thinks looks royal. During the long period when she was ‘dating’ William and appeared at a royal event wearing a tweed suit, I immediately felt that she and her mother must have scoured the shops for something that the Queen would have approved of. Kate is constantly seeking approval, and seems to have studied pictures of how Prince Charles was dressed as a child and that explains George’s outfits. Kate’s outfits, unlike Diana’s are very very predictable, I would love her to break free, throw caution to the wind and start giving the public some real surprises.
I think it isn’t the Queen forcing this on her. I think this is Kate and Carole’s doing.
The few stories about Kate’s life pre-marriage throw up 3 very telling anecdotes regarding her appearance and they both feed into your observation that tries too hard to please her audience rather than herself.
1. At school, she was apparently un-rated by the boys. In a survey they boys took to rate the girls, Kate came bottom or was un-rated. Come the new term, Kate had undertaken a make over with Carole’s help so the boys would rate her. She styled herself differently, and behaved differently all with Carole’s help.
2. Some years after university graduation, she had a professional stylist advise her on how to style herself so she would look good in photos. Make up, clothing etc. The idea was to project a future princess to endear herself to the public.
Her engagement period makeover was overseen by Carole and that took all the elements she experimented with during 2008-2010 and went into overdrive to project an overly made up, over grown teen/ young madam that she assumes a princess should look like.
I suspect her style swings between too young and too old because having no style of her own and incurious about fashion in general, she takes advice from Natasha (too young) and Carole (too old).
Multiple evening dresses with mid-to-high thigh slits. Miniskirts throughout the first pregnancy. Wearing jackets as dresses/miniskirts. Day dresses where she has buttons removed so her mid-or-upper thigh flashes when she walks. Backless chiffon dress with plunging neckline to show off that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Silly up-down dress with high-thigh slit with mini skirt underneath during second pregnancy. Deep plunge neckline in Australia where she flashed her bra and underboob at kids. She flashed mid-thigh at the Irish Guards this year, because she wasn’t wearing much if anything under the coat dress.
Plenty of examples of KM trying to sex-it-up on the job.
that green dress is beautiful! I would totally wear that.